It's happening, finally happening!

[angela3676]

Love your trip report. Great job. I can't wait to read more.

 

[kathfish]

Final installment....

Me, the two Girls and my 9yr old hit the parks about 6pm.
First stop was Hulk. 9yr old was CERTAIN he had grown in the past couple days and insisted we try Hulk again. All that FL sun, all that food, he HAD to have sprouted a bit! So, we try. We measure at the bottom, same as before, he just makes it. We tell the guy this happened before and when we got to the top they measured again and said he was too small. The guy says he looks good, go on up. So we go... fretting all the way, nervous, anxious, convinced he was gonna get on. At the top, noone measures and he's ON!!! You have never seen such a smile! It was great! Needless to say, he LOVED the ride, we did it three times in a row!

After that we did that ride behind Hulk, like the tea cups on steriods.. and Spidey. We then went to Comic Strip Cafe to eat and I must say YUCK! I got cheeseburger, yuck, friends Girl got the chinese chicken thing, yuck, my Girl and 9yr old got pizza, that was less yuck, but still pretty yuck.

TIP: Day one we got the refillable mug for $6.99 with .79 refills and the popcorn bucket $4.49, .79 refills. This was THE best deal. We refilled those babies over and over the four times we were at the park. I highly recommend!

We left IOA and hit Universal, Mummy and RRR were closed, much to kids dismay, we hit Simpsons, Jaws, Shrek and MIB. I read here that the free lockers can give you a hard time and to use your finger NAIL to press the buttons. This is true, I can verify, they are very hard to work with just the pad of your finger. There were a few people in front of me that I passed the tip on to. I was the hero. As we were leaving, to my utter delight, Universal 360 started! I was not expecting to see this, hearing that it only showed in summer months. What a great surprise, super show! Movie clips, fireworks... reminded me a bit of the end of The Great Movie Ride in MGM. Loved it. Headed out of the park and was back at hotel by 10:30.

We took a metered cab to and from. Advice on these boards told me to request a "metered" cab at the hotel, otherwise they would send the hotel cab, which as much more expensive. I paid $16 each way. Not too bad, cheaper than the shuttle too, so....

Tuesday, last day, although I had a super late flight, so limo wasn't picking us up until 7:30pm. We spent the day, where else, the pool. In the sun. Relaxing. Perfect way to end the vaca!

I used Happy Limo for transportation. Pick up at MCO to RPH, pick up at RPH to HO, with a half hour grocery stop, pick up at HO to MCO, $157. Not bad at all, great service too. We got a perk for the ride home, apparently they had some scheduling issues so we got a stretch hummer limo upgrade for no extra cost. Oh ya, my kids were ALL THAT!

So, that's it. It was an amazing time all in all. I was worried I'd go through some Disney withdrawels being so close, but it was all good. Universal has so much to offer on it's own I didn't miss Disney at all.

I do have some pics, though not many. With my first two kids I have every minute of their life recorded in pictures, but like so many other parents, with last two I just don't take the time. I'm more in the picture than taking them. It's hard to stop it all and dig out my camera, I just enjoy whats going on, keeping my memories in my head. I do have some though and as soon as I get them downloaded I will post.

Thanx again, all, for joining my report. It was fun to write!

Kath

 

[ready4mouse]

Great report- thank you for doing it!!!

I have a quick question- if I understand your vacation correctly, it sounds like you had the experience in the park both with AND without the FOTL pass. Did this change your touring at all?

 

[kathfish]

Good question... yes, we did both while on site with FOTL and from an off site hotel.

FOTL def rocks, very cool to just walk right on. We went Wed pm, days Thurs and Fri from onsite.

Offsite was a Monday night, the lines were not too bad though, honestly. Waits posted were 20-30 minutes depending on the ride but it didn't feel like we ever waited more than 10-15 min.
We are Disney people though, so totally used to waiting in line....

As far as "touring" we had no specific plans. This was a fly by the seat of your pants trip, we just wandered around and did what we wanted. That was the best part. When we do Disney, we DO Disney, we know which ride to hit when, we backtrack, we plan, we map it all out. This trip was totally casual. I think next time we do Disney we may just try it that way, easy and slow. Who knows maybe it will work. I'm thinking maybe we are putting too much effort into doing it right and we should be just doing it. I'm sure this attitude comes from the trip we just took, and I'm forgeting the nightmare that Disney can be without a stone plan, but.....

So I guess I would say, depending on the crowd level, season and day of the week, it's not so bad without FOTL, but if I had to do it again, I would for sure stay onsite for at least a night or two regardless of the cost.

 

[DonnaLeah]

Enjoyed your Trip report. Thanks for sharing!!

 

[jopaly]

Great trippie, really enjoyed reading it. We're staying onsite for the first time for one night at the RPR in June and are really looking forward to it. Reading your report is making me even more excited!

 

[Worfiedoodles]

Your TR was just what I needed to perk up my afternoon! Very enjoyable!

Maria

 

[yakadi]

Your trip report was wonderful! I was especially happy to read this latest installment about Hilton Orlando! We will be there one week from today!! Can't wait to try the lazy river! I am wondering though... how late do the hotel pools stay open??? I am wondering if we are gone all day to the parks and such if we will have a few hours in the evenings to swim??? Also, were you offered a room with a nightly view of the SeaWorld fireworks for $5 per day more?? I read this on some other posts and am wondering if you did this and/or if it was worth it ~ couldn't you just go out by the pool area and watch the fireworks?? Also, sooo glad to hear Dennys and etc are within walking distance! We are not getting a car and plan to take the trolley and/or metered taxis everywhere. We don't mind walking but if it's 95 degrees outside, we may not want to wait/walk for very long for the trolley. I have read mixed reports saying the trolley stop is a long walk and another saying it was not??? Can you answer?? Thank you ahead of time if you can.

We are super excited for US and IOA and think we may have gotten a fantastic deal on an offsite property so I am looking forward to NEXT WEEK!! Thank you so very much for your trip report!